Left-wing analysts suggest that the student demonstrations of the last two weeks have signalled the beginning of the end for the governing right wing. A conservative pundit suspects that left wing forces are trying to manipulate the student movement. READ MORE
A leading LMP official thinks that at the end of the day there will be no compulsory voter registration in Hungary, while a moderate conservative commentator argues that the law will pass and will not do any harm to free elections. READ MORE
The leader of the Milla movement says a new pole should be set up within the opposition. He agrees that the left wing should form an alliance at the next election, but does not want that alliance to be ruled by the Socialist Party. READ MORE
Historians’ polemic
In Élet és Irodalom, Eszter Babarczy argues that anti-Semitism became a political factor two decades ago, when liberals and socialists first raised the charge against their conservative opponents. READ MORE
Left-wing commentators welcome former president László Sólyom’s criticism of government policies. Two liberal authors think he did not go far enough. READ MORE
Right and left accuse each other of acting in bad faith in connection with the government-sponsored, but failed reburial of Transylvanian writer József Nyírő. A liberal analyst believes both sides need enemies in order to mobilise their own troops. READ MORE
Left-wing commentators poke fun at Jobbik MEP Csanád Szegedi who has turned out to have Jewish ancestry. Far right bloggers urge him to withdraw from politics. Jobbik chairman Gábor Vona says the case proves that his party is not racist. READ MORE
Following on the heels of left-wing criticism of former Socialist Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány, for his very own plagiarism scandal, a centrist analyst tentatively suggests that Hungary might finally profit from the elimination of double standards. A columnist close to Gyurcsány suggests, however that the plagiarism case may be a fabrication, while a Népszabadság blogger argues that the burden of proof is on Gyurcsány now.
The two leading dailies contend that President Pál Schmitt should have resigned after a fact-finding committee identified academic dishonesty in his doctoral thesis. A left-wing analyst, on the other hand, hopes that Schmitt will stay in office to remind Hungarians of the moral bankruptcy of the Orbán government. READ MORE
Liberal and left-wing analysts fear that the strengthening anti-EU rhetoric prevalent among the supporters of the government will in the long run play into the hands of the radical right. READ MORE